I only wear black or brown socks. My opinion is that I find non serious all that kind of strip, aka duchamp socks. If in my bussiness I see one guy wearing shirts with short sleeves or a sock of that kind. I donÂ´t trust him , then I leave. Same with tatooes or beck, earings, green or red pants , bekham kind douchy haircuts and so and so.

First degree (the easiest): match to the trousers.
Second degree (higher): the socks have colors from both trousers ans shoes. They can be used as a bridge between trousers and shoes.
Highest degree: while having the trousers color, the socks reflect a pattern from above the belt: tie, shirt or coat.

The rule is to contrast the socks with both the suit and the shoes. Thus if most of your suits are navy or charcoal, and most of your shoes are brown or black, acceptable colors of socks to purchase include: lavender, cerulean, honeydew melon, coral.

The pattern on your socks should always be at least as bold and discernable as the one on your next-most patterned piece of clothing (usually the ascot, or the undergarment).

I was haggling with this question today. Grey suit with brown shoes. I kept changing my socks from brown to grey. I settled on grey as I thought it looked better. I agree with everyone who says it's better to match socks to pants.

Definitely socks to trousers. When you're feeling frisky break out those funky socks that 20% match the trousers but 80% give the viewer a slap in the teeth. I've developed a serious sock fetish over the years and really prefer the 20/80 rule.

2010 for me was all about matching socks to my trousers, not an exact match, but in the same hue. 2011 holds something different for me. I'm trying out using different colored socks with different outfits. I'm not trying to draw attention to my feet, but I want to make a subtle statement.

I prefer contrasting colours or some sort of match close to colour of my trousers.

Matching socks to shoe colour elongates the shoe and shortens the leg so that's a no. I hate when men wear colourful pokka dot socks or Happy Socks with suits (as 2 guys often do in my office) and it bugs me tremendously. Happy Sock and pokka dots are too whimsical for suit and tie, they're fine for jeans and toddlers.